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Rogers column: Farewell McLaughlin, welcome Golding

It's been a tumultuous year for Garry Rogers with Volvo's shock withdrawal of support for his team resulting in legal action and star driver Scott McLaughlin announcing his departure to DJR Team Penske from 2017.

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"While I am sad to see him go I understand that this opportunity is one that he couldn't turn down for his career," writes Rogers on McLaughlin.

"Also, I think what tipped it over the line is the situation with Volvo; with them pulling the pin on us out of the blue without any warning whatsoever... I really think that Scott would have stayed with us had it not been for that situation."

The next driver set to get his shot in Supercars thanks to Rogers is James Golding, who is serving his apprenticeship with the team in the Dunlop Development Series and as a mechanic for the main-game squad and will drive alongside James Moffat in the Pirtek Endurance Cup events.

"He is an extremely talented driver; he is very cool, calm and collected and, more importantly, he has a good manner about him," says Rogers.

"He is a person that wants to succeed, not just for himself but for the whole team. He is working with us as an apprentice mechanic. I always look for guys who are not scared to get their hands dirty and put in the hard yards in the workshop, whether that is pushing a broom or being an apprentice mechanic. It's called commitment.

"He is certainly skilful enough. It will just be up to us to give him the right equipment and the environment for him to be able to learn and develop that talent.

"Nothing would be more rewarding for me than if we did put him in the car next year if he ended up beating Scott McLaughlin in the DJR Team Penske in his first race.

"It would just be great to see that we had added another one to our family of talented drivers to come through the Garry Rogers Motorsport system."

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